DEKALB COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — A 26-year-old was found guilty in a DeKalb County court Thursday, District Attorney Summer Summerford announced.
DA Summerford announced Friday that Valen Edwards, 26, was found guilty on August 21 on two counts of possession of obscene matter, one count of dissemination of obscene matter and one count of electronic solicitation of a child.
In March of 2021, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a person had sent an image containing child pornography through the app Discord.
Summerford said ICAC members traced the IP address to a home on Lingerfelt Road in Rainsville.
Detectives stated they had traced viewing of the child pornography to states as far away as California.
In April, search warrants were obtained and executed on the address, which led to an interview with Edwards. During the interview, Edwards confessed to downloading and sending a picture of a child less than 10 engaged in a sexual act on the app Discord. Additionally, Edwards told officers about sexual conversations he had with an underage female.
After a phone extraction, it revealed that Edwards had a nude image of an underage female saved to his device, along with sexual conversations.
Summerford said a sentencing hearing will be held on November 13, 2025. The Rainsville Police Department was the lead law enforcement agency in this case, with special assistance from the Fort Payne Police Department, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Police Department.
“The exploitation of children is the manifestation of evil in this world. The community spoke in this case and stood up for children everywhere. These cases are very difficult to hear. We want to say a special ‘thank you’ to the jurors who had to review disturbing evidence,” Summerford said.
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